diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/nixos-containers.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/nixos-containers.nix
index ce86487bbbc38..b348fd83e51b0 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/nixos-containers.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/nixos-containers.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   config,
   lib,
   pkgs,
+  utils,
   ...
 }@host:
 
@@ -1052,8 +1053,14 @@ in
                 }
                 // (optionalAttrs containerConfig.autoStart {
                   wantedBy = [ "machines.target" ];
-                  wants = [ "network.target" ] ++ (map (i: "sys-subsystem-net-devices-${i}.device") cfg.interfaces);
-                  after = [ "network.target" ] ++ (map (i: "sys-subsystem-net-devices-${i}.device") cfg.interfaces);
+                  wants = [
+                    "network.target"
+                  ]
+                  ++ (map (i: "sys-subsystem-net-devices-${utils.escapeSystemdPath i}.device") cfg.interfaces);
+                  after = [
+                    "network.target"
+                  ]
+                  ++ (map (i: "sys-subsystem-net-devices-${utils.escapeSystemdPath i}.device") cfg.interfaces);
                   restartTriggers = [
                     containerConfig.path
                     config.environment.etc."${configurationDirectoryName}/${name}.conf".source
diff --git a/nixos/tests/containers-physical_interfaces.nix b/nixos/tests/containers-physical_interfaces.nix
index a0be80df7852d..0cc36a1673c31 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/containers-physical_interfaces.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/containers-physical_interfaces.nix
@@ -25,6 +25,28 @@
           };
         };
       };
+    autoStart =
+      { ... }:
+      {
+        virtualisation.vlans = [ 1 ];
+
+        networking.useNetworkd = true;
+
+        systemd.network.netdevs."20-dummy-test".netdevConfig = {
+          Name = "dummy-test";
+          Kind = "dummy";
+        };
+
+        containers.autoStart = {
+          autoStart = true;
+          privateNetwork = true;
+          interfaces = [ "dummy-test" ];
+
+          config = {
+            networking.firewall.enable = false;
+          };
+        };
+      };
     bridged =
       { ... }:
       {
@@ -117,6 +139,16 @@
         # that the device is present in the container.
         server.succeed("nixos-container run server -- ip a show dev eth1 >&2")
 
+    with subtest("Simple dummy interface is up, with autoStart enabled"):
+        autoStart.wait_for_unit("container@autoStart")
+
+        # Check if any dependency of container@autoStart.service timed out.
+        # If a non-existing .device dependency is set in Wants, systemd will
+        # wait until that unit times out, resulting a delay of the container.
+        autoStart.fail("journalctl _PID=1 | grep sys-subsystem-net-devices | grep 'timed out'")
+
+        autoStart.succeed("nixos-container run autoStart -- ip a show dev dummy-test >&2")
+
     with subtest("Physical device in bridge in container can ping server"):
         bridged.wait_for_unit("default.target")
         bridged.succeed("nixos-container start bridged")